When I get older...Paul McCartney in marriage split (Roundup)

By Anna Tomforde May 17, 2006, 17:02 GMT

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills McCartney. EPA/ARMANDO ARORIZO

London - Paul McCartney, ex-Beatle and multi-millionaire, is to split from his second wife, Heather Mills, after a four-year marriage often described as a 'stormy romance.'

For Sir Paul, who is going to be 64 next month, it's a question of 'Will you still need me', after saying 'Love Me Do' to the ex-model and campaigner 26 years his junior in June, 2002.

The couple, who has a two-year-old daughter, Beatrice, said in a statement Wednesday they had agreed 'with sadness to go their separate ways,' adding that the parting was 'amicable.'

They had found it 'increasingly difficult' to conduct a normal relationship in the face of 'constant intrusion into our private lives.'

'We hope, for the sake of our baby daughter, that we will be given some space', they added.

However, press reports said that, as tensions mounted, little Beatrice was shuttled between the couple's two homes by a chauffeur so the parents did not need to meet.

Sir Paul married Mills, an active campaigner for landmine victims and animal rights, at a star-studded ceremony at a castle in Ireland, in June, 2002.

The couple met at a charity event in 1999, at a time when the famous Beatle was still devastated by the death from breast cancer in 1998 of his first wife, American Linda Eastman, after 29 years of marriage.

'I'm lucky to have found a good woman who is strong like Linda, and beautiful and positive and funny', he said at the time.

They were 'too in love' to consider a prenuptial deal to protect his 800-million pounds (1.5 billion-dollar) fortune, Sir Paul revealed.

Mills, who likes to be addressed as 'Lady McCartney', and who has recently returned to modelling, could gain 200 million pounds from any future divorce settlement, papers speculated Wednesday.

There were signs early on that all was not well in the marriage, with McCartney's grown-up children, particularly Stella, the famous fashion designer, disapproving of her new stepmother.

'They find it difficult to think of me with another woman. But that is how it must be...they want me to be happy and this is what makes me happy', said Sir Paul when asked about the tension.

But rumours refused to die down that Heather, who became involved in charity work after losing a leg when she was hit by a motorcycle in 1993, resented living in 'Sir Paul's shadow.'

While she wanted to step up her charity work, Paul wanted her to cut back on commitments, reports said.

Heather, rejecting claims she was after the ex-Beatle's money, once said: 'I never went for guys with money. I always had a dream of a knight in shining armour. Someone who was romantic.'

However, when the couple decided to move apart several weeks ago, Sir Paul was reported as saying that he could no longer stand the 'private hell.' Insiders described Heather as bossy and domineering.

A friend said: 'Heather truly doesn't think the Beatles were that great and she is fed up with people fawning over Paul all the time. She finds this very hard.'